The Multi-Ethnic Heritage of Mediterranean Cities

What is the role of both tangible and intangible heritage in multi-ethnic societies, where cultural memory is often polarized by different, if not antagonistic, identity traditions? Is it possible for monuments that are elsewhere generally considered as a symbol of national unity to become the emblems of a conflictual history, unsolved tensions, underground fractures still undermining divided societies? The case of Mediterranean cities since the 19th century offers a lot of food for thought in this regard, especially when comparing two contexts conjoined by a parallel fate: the two great multi-ethnic empires - the Austro-Hungarian in the west, the Ottoman in the east - which still overlooked the Mediterranean at the turn of the 20th century and then experienced a rapid disintegration in the aftermath of the First World War. The book chapters, considering both tangible and intangible heritage, investigate the formation of cities and districts, through monuments, place names, festivities, languages, traditions, community building and memories and the way they contributed, on the one hand, to the creation of a cosmopolitan urban culture and, on the other hand, to the emergence of the new nation-states.